Words of advice from "Hip Hop's Financial Advisor"

There’s rabbit season. There’s duck season. Then there’s assault-on-your-wallet season otherwise known as the holidays.

And though retailers are going to try their best to separate you from your hard earned money during the last few months of the year, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Check out this episode of #MoneyMonday for tips on how to manage your holiday spending plus advice on how to take advantage of other people’s spending to make more money for yourself this time of year.

Your health might not be the first thing you think about when you decide to improve your finances, but trust me,you should. 60% of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. can be attributed to health problems i.e. huge medical bills or job loss due to illness.

The journey towards a healthier lifestyle starts in the kitchen. Eat This, Not That, will help you swap unhealthy foods for more nourishing ones that will still satisfy your cravings.

You can’t cut everything out of your diet, but you can make better choices.

Sure, there’s been a lot of talk about important a book this might be for women who are trying to find their way to the top of their industry. However, I believe that many of the principles in the book apply to men as well.

Much of the book Lean In is about channeling your ambition and leveraging your network and other tools to get to the place that you want to be in life. That certainly isn’t gender specific advice.

Plus, since it’s been confirmed that women are now the primary breadwinner in 40% of American households, men would do well to read this book in order to be good, supportive partner to their wives. This book helps put women’s unique challenges into focus, and offers ample advice on how to forge past them.

We’ve already talked about the #1 cause of bankruptcy…health issues. Do you know what #4 is? Divorce.

Yes, 50% of marriages end in divorce, and there is an ample amount of attorneys waiting to siphon off your marital assets while you two argue over who gets to keep fluffy. Divorce can wreak havoc on a financial plan.

Enter The 5 Love Languages. If you’ve been having trouble communicating with your mate, this book might be a godsend. Not everyone expresses their affection in the same way, and this book will help you translate the love language your mate speaks.

Because it’s much better to get on the same page voluntarily, than be forced to get on the same page…as in your signatures on the divorce papers.

Women face a number of unique challenges when it comes to money, starting with issues in the workplace. Women still make 80 cents on the dollar compared to men, and only 4% of fortune 500 CEOs are women.

So what can women do about this? Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shares a number of her thoughts in her new book “Lean In”

Check out this week’s #MoneyMonday for a few salient points from the book, and my 3 tips that women can implement TODAY to begin taking charge of their success and ultimately their wealth.